Boil two cups of water with a dash of salt. Cooking each separately, boil the carrots, cucumber and cabbage just until they start to soften. Remove with a slotted spoon and rinse in cold water. Add vegetables to the bowl of dipping sauce.

Mix together the ground meat, green onion, cilantro, sugar and fish sauce. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Form into ten patties. Cook patties on a grill or skillet until nicely browned and cooked through. Add the warm patties to the dipping sauce and vegetables.

To serve, place the noodles on a platter. Circle with lettuce. Scoop vegetables and meat patties on top. Pour on dipping sauce. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and mint.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The saskatoon berries are awesome this year! They're so sweet, even my non-Saskatchewan husband likes them! (He thinks saskatoon berries are an acquired taste, but I think it's genetic.) Here we are after a couple hours picking berries at the old O'Hara homestead on the South Saskatchewan River. I plan to can a whole bunch of berries to eat on my morning muesli all through the winter.

Monday, July 21, 2008

The United Nations has declared 2008 the Year of the Potato, so it is appropriate that we pay homage to this humble tuber which grows so well on the prairie. In fact, potatoes are the only vegetable grown in Saskatchewan in sufficient quantities to meet local demand. In other words, we are potato self-sufficient. (Excluding potatoes, we import about 97% of all vegetables sold in local grocery stores.)

Saskatchewan farmers also produce seed potatoes which, thanks to an unexplained phenomenon called “northern vigor” are in demand by potato farmers south of the border. Northern vigor means the plants grow faster and produce more potatoes than seed potatoes from warmer climates. (This may be due to the longer days, cooler nights or colder winters on the prairies, but nobody quite knows for sure. Research is ongoing.)

The United Nations chose to celebrate the potato because of its growing popularity around the world, especially in developing countries where the potato has great potential for alleviating the hunger caused by higher prices for wheat, corn and rice. Potatoes are also part of the U.N.’s mandate to improve the lives of women in poorer countries where farming and marketing is often women’s work, so if more potatoes are consumed, women and their children will benefit.

In my family, the potato patch was my dad’s project. As children, we helped to plant and harvest 400 hills of potatoes, and later when the harvest was in the cold room, we kept the potatoes “sprouted” through the winter months. We ate a lot of potatoes when I was growing up. When I got my own home, dad kept me supplied with potatoes until a couple of years ago when he retired from the farm. Now I grow my own. My plot at the City Park Community Garden is stuffed full of fingerling potatoes, which are long and yellow and never need to be peeled.

The potato has an interesting history. It originated in the Andes Mountains of South America, where it was a staple and sacred food of the Incas. The farmers of Peru still grow 2,800 different varieties of potatoes. Spanish explorers took the potato back to Europe in the 1500s, where it was not quite as popular as South American gold—many people thought potatoes were poisonous and could cause a whole host of diseases such as leprosy.

Because potatoes were so easy to cultivate and produced so much food for so little effort (as compared, say, to wheat) it was believed that anyone who grew them would become chronically lazy. Suspicious farmers refused to plant them, let alone eat them. It wasn’t until the kings and queens of Europe began touting the pleasures of potatoes (and growing them in the royal gardens) that the rest of the population caught on. Potatoes have seen their dark days. In the mid-1800s in Ireland, potato crops were destroyed by a blight, causing widespread starvation and prompting many people to leave Ireland for greener pastures in North America.

Europeans eat more potatoes per capita than anyone else. North Americans come second (much of that as French fries), but the largest producer of potatoes is now China, attesting to the potato’s potential for feeding the growing populations of the world.

Potatoes are very good for you. Eaten with dairy products, they provide almost all the elements of a healthy diet. Most world cuisines include potatoes from perogies to curries to gratins, even, according to the UN website, potato-based desserts. Personally, I like potatoes any which way but mashed. Now that delicious baby potatoes are at the farmers’ markets—and a garden near you—it is a perfect time to celebrate the International Year of the Potato.

Potato BellsPeel and wash one large potato per person. Using a melon baller, scoop out half-circle “bells” of raw potato. Cook the “bells” in salted boiling water just until tender. Drain. Smother the warm potatoes in melted butter. Fry in a hot skillet until the potatoes are golden brown.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Reported in the Boston Globe, the American public radio program The Splendid Table is doing a one-year study on eating sustainably. It asked 14 participants across the country to keep track of what they spend on a local food diet -- 80 percent of their food items are from organic, regional sources within 500 miles of their homes. Seven out of 14 participants reported spending less on food. Five said they spent the same as usual. (Which, according to the Globe, might be less anyway given the rise in food prices.) The fate of the other two participants wasn't reported.

I reckon I spend way less on food by eating locally, simply because I'm buying almost no processed or exotic foods, which usually cost more. I often buy in bulk (lentils, beans), direct from the farmer (eggs, beef), when it's in season, abundant and less expensive (strawberries, asparagus) and harvest my own small garden (herbs, tomatoes). It's a little more work, but it saves a few bucks!

Amy Jo Ehman

Give the Great Taste of Saskatchewan!

prairie feast

"Out of Old Saskatchewan Kitchens" celebrates the colourful people and recipes that populated our province. It follows my first book "Prairie Feast: A Writer's Journey Home for Dinner." Saskatchewan tastes great -- I wrote the book on it!!